(Press-News.org) Metastasis, the strategy adopted by tumor cells to transform into an aggressive form of cancer, are often associated with a gloomy prognosis. Managing to block the metastasis or, even better, prevent their formation would be a giant step towards the fight against cancer. Researchers at Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) successfully performed this world first on models of human tumors in mice. The results of their study are published online on 24 July in the prestigious journal Cell Reports.
The work by Professor Pierre Sonveaux's team, at Université catholique de Louvain's Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research (IREC), succeeded in pinpointing a family of pharmaceutical compounds whose action prevents the appearance of tumor metastasis. The researchers achieved this tour de force by studying the mitochondria in tumor cells. These organelles are considered as the cells' power station. But when their functioning is altered, as the UCL researchers observed in tumor cells, the mitochondria can promote cell migration, thus leading to the formation of metastasis.
Paolo E. Porporato, a post-doctoral researcher, and other young researchers in Professor Pierre Sonveaux's team, examined the molecular mechanism responsible for the mitochondria's ability to promote metastasis. They succeeded in showing that, under certain conditions, the mitochondria produce more free radicals known as superoxide ions (O2.-). It is this overproduction of superoxide that leads to the formation of metastasis and, consequently, the growth of a tumor.
Involved in other human pathologies such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, the production of superoxide by the mitochondria can be blocked by very specific antioxidants such as MitoTEMPO. Used in models of murine and human tumors, these compounds turned out to be very efficient at blocking the migration of tumour cells and preventing the spontaneous formation of human tumor metastasis in mice! The discovery of a treatment capable of blocking the mechanism responsible for the formation of metastasis and the existence of a family of promising compounds, is encouragement for their future assessment in a clinical study that aims to validate a preventive treatment against tumor metastasis.
INFORMATION:
This research was conducted within the framework of projects mainly financed by an ERC Starting Grant, which Pierre Sonveaux obtained in 2009, and support from the F.R.S.-FNRS, Télévie and the Fondation contre le Cancer.
Porporato PE, Payen VL, Pérez-Escuredo J, De Saedeleer CJ, Danhier P, Copetti T, Dhup S, Tardy M, Vazeille T, Bouzin C, Feron O, Michiels C, Gallez B, Sonveaux P. A mitochondrial switch promotes tumor metastasis. Cell Reports (2014), http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/j.celrep.2014.06.043.
The article will be available for free as of 17:00 on 24 July on the Cell Reports website: http://www.cell.com/cell-reports
A world first: Researchers identify a treatment that prevents tumor metastasis
2014-07-25
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Noise pollution impacts fish species differently
2014-07-25
Acoustic disturbance has different effects on different species of fish, according to a new study from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter which tested fish anti-predator behaviour.
Three-spined sticklebacks responded sooner to a flying seagull predator model when exposed to additional noise, whereas no effects were observed in European minnows.
Lead author Dr Irene Voellmy of Bristol's School of Biological Sciences said: "Noise levels in many aquatic environments have increased substantially during the last few decades, often due to increased shipping traffic. ...
Four-billion-year-old chemistry in cells today
2014-07-25
Parts of the primordial soup in which life arose have been maintained in our cells today according to scientists at the University of East Anglia.
Research published today in the Journal of Biological Chemistry reveals how cells in plants, yeast and very likely also in animals still perform ancient reactions thought to have been responsible for the origin of life – some four billion years ago.
The primordial soup theory suggests that life began in a pond or ocean as a result of the combination of metals, gases from the atmosphere and some form of energy, such as a lightning ...
Corn and soy insecticides similar to nicotine found widespread in Midwest rivers -- USGS news
2014-07-25
Insecticides similar to nicotine, known as neonicotinoids, were found commonly in streams throughout the Midwest, according to a new USGS study. This is the first broad-scale investigation of neonicotinoid insecticides in the Midwestern United States and one of the first conducted within the United States.
Effective in killing a broad range of insect pests, use of neonicotinoid insecticides has dramatically increased over the last decade across the United States, particularly in the Midwest. The use of clothianidin, one of the chemicals studied, on corn in Iowa alone ...
Zerenex (ferric citrate) long-term Phase 3 study results published in JASN
2014-07-25
New York, NY - July 24, 2014 -- Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:KERX) (the "Company") announced the publication of results from the long-term, randomized, active control Phase 3 study of Zerenex (ferric citrate), the Company's investigational oral ferric iron-based phosphate binder, for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on dialysis. The PERFECTED study (PhosphatE binding and iRon delivery with FErric CiTrate in EsrD) was published online today in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).
This Phase ...
New hope for powdery mildew resistant barley
2014-07-25
New research at the University of Adelaide has opened the way for the development of new lines of barley with resistance to powdery mildew.
In Australia, annual barley production is second only to wheat with 7-8 million tonnes a year. Powdery mildew is one of the most important diseases of barley.
Senior Research Scientist Dr Alan Little and team have discovered the composition of special growths on the cell walls of barley plants that block the penetration of the fungus into the leaf.
The research, by the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Cell Walls in the University's ...
NRG1 isoforms could be an effective therapeutic candidate to promote peripheral nerve regeneration
2014-07-25
Neuregulin 1 (NRG1) is a pleiotropic factor characterized by the existence of numerous isoforms arising from alternative splicing of exons that confer to the protein deeply different characteristics. NRG1 plays an important role for both the myelination occurring during development and the different phases occurring after injury in the peripheral nerve: axon degeneration, axon regrowth, remyelination and target reinnervation
Researchers at the University of Western Australia have discovered that the soluble NRG1 upregulation observed in Schwann cells immediately after ...
Assessment on self-care ability of children with spina bifda
2014-07-25
Spina bifda (SB) is a complex congenital central nervous system disease that is caused by the incomplete closing of the neural tubes during the embryonic phase. Many patients have varying degrees of spasticity, urinary and fecal incontinence and neurocognitive retardation. Such problems decrease the patients' functional independence and their quality of life. Researchers at Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Education and Research Hospital, Turkey investigate the functional performance in children with SB, using the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory ...
Neurologic recovery from corticospinal tract injury due to subfalcine herniation
2014-07-25
After development of diffusion tensor tractography (DTT), which is derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), three-dimensional reconstruction and estimation for three motor tracts, such as the corticospinal tract, the rubrospinal tract, and the corticoreticular pathway became possible. The corticospinal tract is known to be a major neural tract for motor function in the human brain. Several studies have reported on injury of the corticospinal tract by transtentorial herniation. In addition, some studies have demonstrated recovery of a corticospinal tract injured by transtentorial ...
Bacteria manipulate salt to build shelters to hibernate
2014-07-25
For the first time, Spanish researchers have detected an unknown interaction between microorganisms and salt. When Escherichia coli cells are introduced into a droplet of salt water and is left to dry, bacteria manipulate the sodium chloride crystallisation to create biomineralogical biosaline 3D morphologically complex formations, where they hibernate. Afterwards, simply by rehydrating the material, bacteria are revived. The discovery was made by chance with a home microscope, but it made the cover of the Astrobiology journal and may help to find signs of life on other ...
Breakthrough laser experiment reveals liquid-like motion of atoms in an ultra-cold cluster
2014-07-25
A new study by researchers from the University of Leicester has furthered our understanding of how tiny nanosystems function, unlocking the potential to create new materials using nanosized 'building blocks'.
The study, which has been published in the prestigious academic journal Physical Review Letters, used a novel laser technique to examine in rich detail the structure and internal atomic motion of a small cluster containing an acetylene molecule and a single helium atom.
The technique excited single clusters and generated rotational wavepackets, which are composed ...